“Daddy!” Joy called out gleefully, racing toward him.

Eric crouched to catch her, smiling as he scooped her up. “Did you have fun with Mommy? Were you a good girl?”

“Yes!” Joy beamed. Then she gasped, suddenly remembering. “Daddy, my teacher praised me! I got a perfect score today!”

“You did?” His eyes widened in delight. “That’s wonderful!”

“Yep!” Joy wriggled excitedly in his arms, then jumped down.

“Wait right here! I’ll go get it for you!”

“Okay.” Eric chuckled, gently patting her little hair bun. The sound of her tiny footsteps faded upstairs.

And then the silence came.

“Hadley.” He turned to her, uncertain, his voice softer now. “I’m back.”

She glanced toward the antique clock on the wall, her brows furrowing. “You’re back earlier than usual. Do you have an event later tonight?”

“No.”

“Oh.” Her tone was light, but her eyes betrayed a different emotion. “Right. You’re heading to the hospital later, aren’t you? So you came home early to squeeze in a few moments with us before going back to her?” The words were calm, but each one cut like a blade.

“No,” Eric said quickly, a crease forming between his brows. “You misunderstood. I came home early because I know I upset you earlier today. I just… wanted to spend time with you.”

“Is that so?” Hadley didn’t argue, simply offering a quiet, unreadable smile. “What about her? Won’t she lose her mind without you?”

“She’s not my responsibility alone.” Eric sighed, the tension in his voice growing. “Ernest is helping too. He’s the one staying with her most of the time.”

He hadn’t wanted to bring Ernest into this, but now he had to. “I stopped by this morning to help out. He’s handling the rest—this afternoon, tonight, everything. He’s even staying over.” So that was how it was.

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“Well, that’s impressive,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “One brother during the day, another at night… That woman must feel like royalty. Two men taking shifts for her. It’s the dream, isn’t it? She really has it all.”

Eric felt a sharp pang in his chest. Th?s chapter is updated by findnovel.net

He opened his mouth, hoping to explain and calm Hadley down, but whatever he said only seemed to make things worse.

Just as he was about to speak again, footsteps approached from the stairs.

Joy came bounding down, her quiz paper tightly clutched in one hand. She ran straight to him, holding it up with pride. “Daddy! Look at this!”

“Alright.” Eric blinked, caught off guard. He knelt down and scooped his daughter into his arms. “Let me see… A perfect score, Joy! You’re amazing!”

Joy pointed across the room and beamed. “Over there! Sit down, Daddy, and take a good look!”

“Okay!” he said, chuckling softly.

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